December 2012/January 2013 - PAWPRINT PUBLISHING

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NEWS Saw service celebrates 40 years of success with WHEN THAMES VALLEY was established by two friends in 1973 to service bandsaw blades, circular saws and plate saws, the company’s ‘quality’ philosophy entailed the acquisition of Vollmer manual hand grinding machines. Despite approaching 40 years of age, these machines are still in operation, a clear indication of the build quality and relevance to the modern day business. As a saw service and supplier of quality saws and tooling to many industries, it is imperative that Thames Valley Saw Service invests in the most up to date and highest specification machinery available to maintain its position and continued growth in the marketplace. Over the years new machinery has been predominantly supplied by Vollmer machine tools. With over 35 years’ service at Thames Valley Saw Service, workshop director Mr Nigel Muttram discusses the evolution of the company and industry in general: “Since I have been at Thames Valley Saw Service, the landscape of the industry has changed beyond recognition. We used to have a fume filled workshop with staff manually grinding cutters, bandsaws and circular saw blades day in, day out. To move with the times, we have invested in automated machine tools that can Nigel Mutram operating robot loaded Vollmer CHD270. Vollmer KRD710 with 40 year old Vollmer in the background. process our saw blades. With the evolution of materials and the demand for ever faster cycle times from the saw blades, the saw blade tips and geometries have changed drastically.” To emphasise this point, Mr Muttram highlights the company’s position as the UK’s only distributor for the full range of Kanefusa products: “As a supplier and ser - vice agent for the high quality range of Japanese manufactured Kanefusa tools for the wood and metal industries, we have to be capable of machining all geometries on all their cutting tools and saw blades. As Kanefusa develops new geometries to improve the performance of the saw blades, we have to be capable of re-grinding these geometries. So, when Kanefusa developed its 3DX, 6DX and 10DX range of TCT blades with three, six and ten different tooth geometries on each blade, our Vollmer CHD270 was more than up to the task of grinding the complicated multiple geometries.” Since the Drayton based company’s inception, it has always invested in high quality machine tools and the 21 employee business now has a complement of Vollmer machines that includes a CX100 for sharpening carbide tipped saws, an ND230 robot loaded CHD270 and a CHD250 for re-sharpening industrial application TCT saws with more demanding geometries, plus a KRD710 for processing HSS saw blades. The acquisition of the KRD710 in 2000 signalled the end of the manual machining era for Thames Valley and its first step toward automated CNC re-sharpening. As Mr Muttram recalls: “We had seven old Vollmer manual grinders for sharpening HSS saws. They became redundant following the arrival of the KRD710 as it improved the quality whilst providing productivity beyond that of our seven older machines combined. “By taking these old machines out, we also had considerably more floor space and our staff could be freed up to conduct alternate tasks.” The arrival of the KRD710 also enabled Thames Valley Saw Service to machine a HSS blade in 10 minutes whereas the previous time with the manual machine was 25 minutes per blade, the setup times were also drastically reduced along with the benefits of wet grinding and CBN wheels to generate a very accurate tooth geometry and consistency in the quality of sharpening. The success of the KRD710 paved the way for further Vollmer investments and in 2004, Thames Valley Saw Service acquired its first large Vollmer machine, a CHD250. The CHD250 replaced two ageing Vollmer CHP machines: one was tasked with grinding the face of tipped saw blades whilst the second was grinding the tops. With two grinding wheels in one machine, the CHD250 removed the two previous machines, and in doing so, improved productivity and workflow by eliminating excessive set-ups. The benefits were more far fetching as Mr Muttram states: “The CHD250 benefits were certainly worth the investment. Beside improved workflow and productivity, the CHD gives us advanced programming, so we can deliver improved tooth geo - metries to the customer. “Furthermore, the enclosed unit made a significant difference to the workshop environment that was previously filled with coolant mist. This has benefited the visual impact of the workshop and offers Page 6 Panel, Wood & Solid Surface December 2012/January 2013
NEWS Vollmer machine tools a cleaner working environment.” An additional two CHP machines were removed in 2006 for the arrival of a Vollmer CX100. Purchased specifically for sharpening small TCT saws to maximum dia - meter of 500 mm in small batches, the CX100 offers rapid turnaround times with fast set-ups. This enables Thames Valley Saw Service to service up to 400 TCT blades each week for customers with low frequency, one-off orders. The company’s reward for providing saw blades of impeccable quality, has been an exceptional level of growth over the past 10 years. As well as employing Vollmer grinding centres, Thames Valley Saw Service has invested in alternate machine tools with particular technical attributes over the past decade. As Mr Muttram continues: “Despite the exceptional quality, service and longevity of the Vollmer machines, we have on occasions acquired machines from alternate suppliers. In hindsight, this has proven a mistake. Some of our machines were acquired over Vollmer on price, but you get what you pay for, and the quality and reliability of lesser machines had an impact on our business. As we were going through a period of growth, a machine we believed would be an integral part of our Vollmer CHD250 at Thames Valley. business became extremely unreliable and this was compounded by poor service support.” The result was Thames Valley Saw Service’s acquisition of a Vollmer CHD270 with a three station ND230 robotic loading system in 2007 to replace a competitor machine. As Mr Muttram recalls: “We had the previous machine for nine years and in that period, it proved expensive to repair, unreliable, unproductive and time-consuming to set up. It would only hold certain saw blade bore sizes, which resulted in additional setting times or the transfer of blades to other machines. With regards to productivity, the automatic loader could only hold 20 saw blades, so we could only machine 20 blades unmanned overnight.” From the offset, the Vollmer CHD270 eliminated all these issues. The machine could cope easily with any bore size. The reliability has been exceptional and the ND230 robotic loader has a capacity for up to 100 blades, resulting in overnight productivity increasing five-fold. “The technology behind the CHD270 is outstanding. It has two touch probes for automatic measurement of each tooth. The probes measure the diameter, kerf and the face of Vollmer CX100 machining small TCT blades at Thames Valley. the blades. By measuring the face and gullet, the probe tells the machine how far the wheel has to go into each gullet. This removes any possibility of grinding thin air beyond the carbide tip, which results in improved cycle times. “With automatic wheel compensation that continually measures the grinding wheels, our consistency and quality has improved. Furthermore, the Vollmer is a more rigid machine with a heavier base and this has improved the surface finishes of our blades. “From a productivity standpoint, the Vollmer is at least 20% faster than our previous grinding centre. On average, we are machining a 300 mm diameter TCT blade with 96 teeth in 17 minutes. Despite the machine being capable of machining at higher speeds, this consumes more grinding wheels, more power and puts unnecessary stress on the machine. The high level of automation with the CHD270 enables an operator to spend an hour each evening loading and programming the machine and then starting the next shift with a robotic loader with 80 to 100 completed TCT blades. “With this remarkable automation, there is little need to push the cycle times to shave seconds off a blade. This method also ensures our blades are finished to a remarkably high standard. I would like to add that it’s not only the investment in machinery over the years that has aided our growth but also the loyal, dedicated and highly skilled workforce here at Thames Valley Saw Service,” concludes Mr Muttram. Vollmer UK Tel 0115 949 1040 admin-uk@vollmer-group.com www.vollmer-group.com Panel, Wood & Solid Surface December 2012/January 2013 Page 7
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